As part of my IDF & Israel ping list, I am publishing a series of fascinating stories and facts regarding the IDF or Israel, every friday- one topic once a week.

I will include Israeli-Arab wars threads, IDF famous missions threads, stories regarding the life of an IDF soldier, topics about Middle East's startegic balance, etc.

Feel free to ask questions about the IDF and Israel- from any kind, and to give suggestions for future topics as the information is for you.

Today is the 2nd publishment and today's thread will focus on the Founding of the Israel Defense Forces.

Thank you and enjoy reading,

IAF ThunderPilot

18/3/2005

The Founding of the Israel Defense Forces

The Anti-British Struggle (1945-1948)

After the end of WWII, between October 1945 and the beginning of the War of Independence in December 1947, the Haganah was the largest and most important Jewish military force that operated against the British.

Its acting chief of staff, Yitzhak Sadeh, was the most senior and most authoritative personality in the "Jewish resistance movement." The Haganah carried out anti-British military operations  liberation of interned immigrants from the Atlit camp; the bombing of the country's railroad network ("Night of the Trains"); sabotage raids on radar installations and bases of the British police mobile force; sabotage of British vessels that engaged in deporting clandestine immigrants and destruction of all road and railroad bridges on the borders ("Night of the Bridges"). It was also the Haganah, under Shaul Avigur (Meirov), that operated the mass clandestine, illegal immigration from Europe and North Africa in 1944-1948, on the escape (Beriha) trails and maritime routes, as well as overland from Middle Eastern countries. Furthermore, the Haganah provided military protection for the country-wide Jewish settlement enterprise, which took place in defiance of the constraints imposed by the British land laws. One such operation was the establishment of eleven settlements in the Negev on the night after Yom Kippur 1946, under the command of the deputy chief of staff of the Haganah, Yosef Avidar (Rokhel).

The Etzel and Lehi were, of course, also active in the resistance movement, their many operations focusing mainly on individual terrorism and guerrilla warfare against the British. Examples are the bombing of the British government and military headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, raids on British air force bases at Qastina and near Kfar Syrkin, liberation of Jewish prisoners from the prison in Acre, and sabotage of the railroad repair workshop near Haifa.

The War Of Independence (1948-49)

In the daily Order of the Establishment of the Israel Defence Forces, issued in the midst of the invasion by Arab armies on May 31, 1948, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion made the following statement:

"Vast is the debt that the yishuv and the Jewish people owe the Haganah during all the phases of the founding [of the state], in Petah Tikva, Rishon Lezion, Gedera, Rosh Pina, Zikhron Ya'akov and Metulla, via Hashomer of the Second Aliya vanguard, the Jewish Legion in the First World War [the three fusilier regiments, the 38th, the 39th and the 40th], the defenders of Tel Hai and the steady growth of a national defense organization in the period between the two world wars, the formation of the supernumery police corps during the disturbances of 1936-1939, the founding of the Palmach and the Field Corps, the mass volunteering in the Second World War and the formation of the first Jewish Brigade and up to the mighty struggle by the Haganah in the first half of the war against us, from 30 November 1947 to 31 May 1948. Were it not for the experience, the planning, the operational and command ability, the loyalty and spirit of valor of the Haganah, the yishuv could not have withstood the terrible, bloody ordeal that has come upon us these past six months and we would not have attained the State of Israel. In the annals of the Jewish people, the chapter on the Haganah will glow with a grandeur and pride that will never tarnish."

"Thus, it was the Haganah that was responsible for defense, security, retaliation, and counterattack against the Arab-Palestinian enemy, the foreign Arab volunteers and the Arab regular armies which invaded Palestine after 30 November 1947, the beginning of the War of Independence. It accomplished this mission until June 1, 1948, when the Israel Defence Forces - the IDF  officially came into being, several days after the provisional government passed a resolution to this effect (May 26). The IDF was not an ex nihilo product but an evolutionary and natural development of the Haganah, having inherited from it the General Staff and its Chief, the combat units, the operational and logistical formations, the air and naval arms, procurement and manufacture of arms, intelligence services and mobilization systems. It was the IDF, the offspring of the Haganah, that brought to an end the military campaign that the Haganah had begun in the War of Independence."

The existence of armed forces responsible to the elected government of a nation is one of the hallmarks of a democratic nation-state.

On 28 May 1948, the Provisional Government of the State of Israel issued Defence Army of Israel Ordinance No. 4. This ordinance, signed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, established the Israel Defense Forces, which would be comprised of "land forces, a navy and an air force". The ordinance was published in the Official Gazette No.3 of 31 May 1948.

In a state of emergency, conscription would be instituted and the age for conscripts would be set by the Provisional Government. The existence or establishment of any armed force other than the Israel Defense Forces was prohibited. Every individual serving in the IDF would be required to swear allegiance to the State of Israel, to its laws, and its legal bodies.

The general officers of the nascent Israel Defense Forces were sworn-in in a ceremony conducted on 27 June 1948.

The process of establishing a unified Israel Defense Forces was protracted. It began in the midst of the fighting against invading Arab armies. The Lehi resistance organization dissolved itself immediately upon the creation of the State of Israel and its members joined the IDF on an individual basis. However, in the Jerusalem area, the Lehi continued to function as an armed fighting force until 17 September 1948, when the organization in that sector was dissolved according to a government order issued after the assassination of the UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte.

Individual battalions of the IZL joined the IDF with the exception of those fighting in Jerusalem. However, following the Altalena incident, these battalions were disbanded on 20 September 1948, and their soldiers joined the IDF on an individual basis as did all other citizens of the State of Israel.

The companies and battalions of the Palmach joined the IDF in a process which extended until the Chief of Staff ordered the dissolution of the Palmach on 29 October 1948, which became effective on 7th of November.

The creation of a unified IDF lasted almost 6 and a half months, from 28th of May 1948 till 7 November 1948.

The Israel Defense Forces was formed in battle. Many characteristics of the IDF which are evident today, originated in the fighting of 1948: the total mobilization of the society behind the war effort, the constant introduction of new weapons and techniques during the fighting, and the need of young commanders to establish their authority by successful leadership.TOPICS:Foreign Affairs; Israel; Miscellaneous; Your Opinion/QuestionsKEYWORDS:hayidim; idf; israel; israeldefenseforces; machal

Awesome. I'd love to hear of fighter pilot heroics as long as they aren't of the sea story types like, "and after downing 15 shots without passing out, he swaggered to the loo, walked into the ladies rest room by accident (or was it?) and met the gal who would later become his fourth wife."

On 28 May 1948...This ordinance, signed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, established the Israel Defense Forces, which would be comprised of "land forces, a navy and an air force".

Did ya read that sentence? "Land forces, a NAVY, and an air force." We see (and read about) the IDF in the news, and to a lesser extent, the IAF. Don't forget to tell us about Israel's Navy while you share about the IAF & IDF. :-)

Thanks for the post, IAF! I've been pro-British, pro-Australian, and pro-Israel since I was a child. One of the saddest things for me to read about in history was the fighting between the British and the Jewish forces during the sad times of the infamous White Paper and the pre-independece of Israel. Like the fighting between the British and the Irish, to me, it is like watching two great friends fight each other. IMO, Britain made three big mistakes in her history: the way we Americans were treated during the colonial period, the way the Irish were treated, and the way the Jews in then-Palestine-now-Israel were treated in the 1930s and 1940s.

7
posted on 03/18/2005 12:48:34 PM PST
by Convert from ECUSA
(tired of all the shucking and jiving)

Amr Moussa, Secretary General of the Arab League, symbol seen behind, talks during a press conference with Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, not pictured, following the last session of Arab foreign ministers meetings Sunday, March 20, 2005, as a preparation for the 17th summit of the League of Arab States to be held at Algiers March 22-24 and expected to bring some 20 heads of state to the Algerian capital . (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

ALGIERS, Algeria - The Arab summit formally rejected on Sunday a proposal by the Jordanian king that would have revised Arab conditions for normalizing relations with Israel, sinking a plan that had won Israeli praise only hours earlier.

The original plan by Jordan's King Abdullah II had dropped the traditional Arab call for recognizing Israel in exchange for the Jewish state's withdrawal from land it has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Nine of 22 Arab League countries assembled for the summit which begins on Monday had objected to the proposal on Saturday, and league Secretary-General Amr Moussa declared it dead a day later.

"If Israel implements all its commitments, all the Arab countries will be ready to normalize relations with Israel. We are not going to move even 1 millimeter away from this," Moussa told reporters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Algerian capital.

Algerian Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem concurred with Moussa, telling reporters the summit, which begins Tuesday, "will not be the summit of normalization."

Perhaps in a kiss of death, Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom praised the Jordanian proposal on Sunday as he welcomed the newly installed Egyptian ambassador, ending a diplomatic freeze that lasted through most of the last four years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

"We are very satisfied by the Jordanian initiative. I think we can make progress with other Arab countries," Shalom said, adding the very fact that Jordan had put such an initiative to an Arab forum indicated a change in the diplomatic climate. It showed moderate Arab states were "testing the water," he said.

"I would like to believe that after the Arab League (summit) will take place, it will be easier for some of those countries to make a move toward a better understanding with Israel," Shalom told reporters.

Besides the return of the Egyptian envoy, Israeli government officials have said in recent days that Morocco was expected to renew low-level ties with soon.

On Sunday, Shalom said no date had been set with Morocco, or any other country, but that talks were at an advanced stage with a number of Arab and Muslim states.

Asked about reports that Morocco was going to recognize Israel, Moussa said: "This will be a reason for a lot of indignation, and if what Shalom is saying is correct, I think Israel doesn't deserve it."

Algeria's Belkhadem said the diplomats drafting the summit resolutions were working on a text to "revive and reaffirm the Arab peace initiative (a Saudi proposal issued in Beirut three years ago), according to the priorities which are spelled out in the initiative, so that people will know that there is no interpretation."

The Arab peace initiative, endorsed at the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, said Arab states were prepared to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for Israel's full withdrawal from occupied Arab territory, the creation of a Palestinian state, and a settlement of the Palestinian refugee issue.

The Jordanian proposal had drawn quick and strong criticism from other Arab countries, who saw it as giving too much to Israel for too little gain.

15
posted on 03/20/2005 2:34:38 PM PST
by TexKat
(Just because you did not see it or read it, that does not mean it did or did not happen.)

It was too bad it had to come to friction between the British and Haganah, I had a friend whose brother was killed during those times and to this day he will not call it Israel but "occupied Palestine".

I have in my collection one of the German K-98k rifles that were bought and smuggled into Israel, it was rebarreled into 7.52x51 the Nato caliber at a later date. I have seen pix of the early IDF using these and Haganah also. This one only has a small six pointed star stamped on the barrel, but there are some with a full Haganah crest, which I hope to aquire some day.

Peace be upon you and upon all Israel.

19
posted on 03/29/2005 3:27:35 PM PST
by tet68
( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)

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